Look, I’m Gone by James Howard Kunstler

We all take risks. I imagine, back in the day, hunting mammoths could be risky, not knowing if you would come back from those expeditions. Taking risks is part of life, something you have to do to accomplish what you want, to achieve goals and expectations. Starting a business is risky—most don’t make it—but year after year Americans start businesses despite the high chance of failure.

There are smaller risks out there, for example, I got acquainted with ThothStudio on Substack, long before he was ThothStudio and called himself JC of Mars (it is and is not what you think). We really hit it off through a lot of comment exchanges and then met virtually, something I thoroughly enjoyed. In the course of our conversation I mentioned that my wife was an artist, not professional, but amateur, though I think she’s very good.

JC told me he was an artist too—and then I did it. I asked if he had anything up on the web I could look at it. He did.

That was risky. What if, as seemed most likely, I didn’t like his art, then I’d have to explain as tactfully as possible that his art wasn’t something that fit within my previously acquired tastes from several decades of amateur art viewing. Then he’d know exactly what I thought and it would be awkward.

But I forged ahead and went to his website. Here’s what I wrote to him after visiting his site:

Okay. Wow. You are an artist! The kind my wife wants to be….I’m no artist….but I know what I like and really like much of what you have on Instagram and also what I saw on your site. Thanks for sharing! I’m still a little stunned….not just by your art but some of the quotes you have on Instagram are ones we know and/or reflect sentiments about art that we hold.

And I was stunned. ThothStudio is an excellent, excellent artist. He’s classically trained, does portraits, landscapes and still life. Truly excellent work. And he’s conservative.

When I saw James Howard Kunstler’s offer for a free copy of his novel for a review, I applied. I love his nonfiction and if you are not subscribed to his Substack, I highly, highly recommend it.

Mr. Kunstler sent me his novel, Look, I’m Gone, and then I began to wonder what would I do if I didn’t like it? Just because you like someone’s nonfiction, doesn’t mean you’ll like their fiction. Fiction is far more personal and tastes vary widely.

If I disliked his novel I decided I wouldn’t write about it, I’d just write Kunstler and politely tell him I couldn’t recommend it because I didn’t care for it. You know, not my cup of tea or some other banal cliché so he could feel good that a crappy writer didn’t like his novel.

For the most part, I just don’t read current fiction. Partly it’s because why should I take a chance on something recent that will probably be mediocre when I can read something a lot older that is almost guaranteed to be great? I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy back in 2006 when it came out, my most recent foray into contemporary fiction. Don’t remember much about it, except I didn’t like it. I read The Hunt for Red October when it came out in 1984, a novel I did like. I’ve also read five of the The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy novels with the last one published in 1992, but read all those long after they had first been published. Enjoyed all of those.

Kunstler’s novel is the first current novel I’ve read in almost 20 years. Since you’re reading this, you know, obviously, that I liked it and it is not just because he used the word “inmate” on the first page, though I do consider that a kind of omen, a nice bit of synchronicity that confirms the necessity of a recommendation by .

Among themselves, the scholars traditionally called themselves “inmates.”²

The main character, Jeff Greenaway, reminds me of myself at that age—not in the least. Greenaway is a 12-year-old kid who started realizing life can be tough before the novel begins and by the end of the novel understands in a way that only experience can teach, that under the surface of initial impressions and fantasies there is almost always a difficult truth.

Catcher in the Rye plays a major role in the story. Jeff reads it and in many ways wants to emulate Holden Caulfield, sometimes asking himself “What would Holden do?”  Jeff is a milder, younger version, though he does become proficient in his use of “goddam.” Jeff attends a prep school and returns home to be with his parents for Thanksgiving vacation after the assassination of JFK an event that has saddened him and most of the country. Though there is some friction during the story, Jeff and his parents get along. In a less tense moment Evelyn, Jeff’s mother, questions her son about playing cards at a school that doesn’t allow it. Jeff says:

“For godsake, Mom, it’s a bunch guys in the middle of nowhere. We do things guys do, like play cards. They can’t stifle everything.”
“He’s got a point, dear,” Bob said.³

I love that exchange. My Dad would have said, “Stop playing cards, doggonit!” We follow Jeff through New York City as he tries hard to spend the wad of cash he won playing poker. He dispenses with a lot of it at movies, restaurants, various stores and a dance club. It’s a fun journey. I thoroughly enjoyed that part of the story.

Once he leaves New York he ends up in the home of J.D. Salinger—the only part of the novel I wasn’t sure about. I didn’t think Salinger would act in the way he did with some annoying kid who shows up at his door on a snowy evening. It was a part of the book I was anticipating because the novel’s blurb informs readers that’s where Jeff Greenaway ends up, but I wasn’t convinced I was listening to J.D. Salinger. Admittedly, I’ve never read anything substantial about Salinger’s personal life, so there’s that. Most likely I’ll get a note from Kunstler that says something like, “Well, that’s exactly how it happened, Mr. Inmate, that kid was me.” I’ll keep you posted.

Look, I’m Gone is Jeff Greenaway fully leaving behind his childhood and learning difficult lessons through life’s hardships and disappointments, some of which he caused himself. It’s about Kennedy being gone and along with him the innocence of a nation. There are other disappearances in the novel that Jeff witnesses and all these events will shape his life for decades to come.

I’m glad I read Look, I’m Gone by James Howard Kunstler. I breezed through it quickly, liked all the characters and I recommend reading it—then you can decide about the ending for yourself.

Look, I’m done.

Download Meme

You are free to download and use 's meme wherever you want (for non-commercial use only).
Please give credit and link back to the site.

Notes

1. Watson, George, The Story of the Novel, Harper and Row Publishers, Inc., Barnes and Noble Import Division, New York, N. Y., 1979. p. xi.
2. Kunstler, James Howard, Look, I'm Gone, Kitsap Publishing, Poulsbo, WA, first edition, 2025, p. 1.
3. p. 101.